New ownership hopes to give Clash a kick-start

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, August 5, 1998

The Clash became the first Major League Soccer-owned team to be bought by independent investor operators when a group led by U.S. Soccer Federation president Rothenberg and the Japanese advertising firm Dentsu paid a reported record $25 million to run the franchise. What that money buys is a bigger budget and the right to change a team that since MLS's inception has not met its potential.

"I think people think Alan is going to come in and wave his magic wand and change things," Clash president and general manager Peter Bridgwater said. "I think it's going to be fun to work with him. He's well-connected within the league and it's true he would carry more weight than I would in certain situations."

San Jose (8-13) is in last place in the Western Conference heading into Wednesday night's game in New England. The Clash finished with a league-worst 12-20 record in 1997 and were fourth in the West in 1996.

While the Clash can only speculate about what changes Rothenberg and company may be contemplating - rumors of trades and the possibility of replacing Brian Quinn as coach have been swirling - there are some clear-cut advantages to getting out from under the foot of league ownership.

"Really, the true difference you can point to is if you have an individual or a group of individuals, they can make the decision to build a stadium, or like in New York, spend more on a coach," said Billy Hicks, general manager of the league-owned Dallas Burn.

"The league is structured as such that, theoretically, there should be no difference on the field," Hicks said.

"The rest is really open to conjecture."

The most tangible change the Clash can expect is monetary - investor-operated teams can spend more money on facilities, front-office staff and marketing than league-owned teams. Two-time defending MLS champion D.C. United, who are independently owned, have arguably the best training facility in the league - they took over the old Redskins workout facility - and New York / New Jersey was able to woo former Brazilian national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreria in 1997.

"What D.C. is paying for a training site and office accommodations is a lot of money," Bridgwater said.

"It's more than we have as a league-owned team. When you take over the Redskins training facilities, it's a lot and it's luxurious."

Besides the promise of more money, the Clash will likely benefit from a higher profile. Rothenberg, founder of MLS and head of the 1994 World Cup, is the most recognizable soccer executive in North America.

The purchase of the Clash will not affect how much the team can spend on players - all MLS teams have to adhere to an approximately $1.5 million salary cap. But it is likely the identification, negotiation and signing of players will be somewhat easier.

"I can sit down with my GM and that's where the buck stops," said New England coach Thomas Rongen, who in 1996 was coach of the league-owned Tampa Bay Mutiny. "In that first year, it was very hard to get things done. I had to go through the GM and then the league and I thought it was difficult to facilitate things."

Over the course of the 1998 season, the Clash have struggled with personnel. After working for nearly three years to sign Carlos Hermosillo, he was signed by MLS and assigned to Los Angeles. The Clash instead were allocated forward Francisco Uribe, a player Quinn had not seen before he was signed.

"I think I'll probably have more say and more opportunity to get players," Quinn said. "I know Chicago just went and got their foreign players, but with us, we had to wait until the league assigned us the player. Now, if I want a player, I can go to Mexico and bang!, we have a player."

The perception across the league is that bigger-market and investor-operated teams get preferential treatment. Those teams often get the biggest name players and coaches. And in the cases of D.C. and L.A., each team leads its division. The three league-owned teams, San Jose, Dallas and Tampa Bay, are at or near the bottom of their divisions.

"I think the grass is always greener," MLS CEO Mark Abbott said. "I understand the impression, but that is not the case. My view is that we allow a lot of local creativity with regard to league-owned teams."

Rongen, the only coach who has worked with both a league-owned and investor-operated team, said that despite all the speculation, there will likely be few changes in the day-to-day business of soccer.

"Since I've been on both sides of the fence," Rongen said. "I don't think there is any difference." &lt;